Grave Misunderstanding
by kori hime
Summary: PostWAT. Huge SPOILERS for that episode and a few for the blood bending episode. Slight Zutara. Zuko does nothing, but Katara attacks anyway...


"You've misunderstood!" Zuko exclaimed as he felt his blood chill, and his body suddenly felt like it no longer belonged to him.

"I told you, didn't I," Katara sneered as she moved her arms, bending the blood in Zuko's body and making him fall to his knees in front of her, "what would happen if you took one step backward?"

Katara swung her arms angrily and precisely to send Zuko's face into the stone floor. "Katara, stop! He didn't do anything wrong!" Aang called out as he pulled himself out of the rubble. There had been a pillar and Aang had not blocked properly, causing Zuko's attack to send him through a pillar that had collapsed on top of him.

Katara paused in her bending for a moment, just enough for Zuko to look up with a look of surprise and fear in his eyes. Katara stopped bending abruptly, Zuko collapsed, breathing heavily. She gasped loudly, her hands quickly covering her mouth as Sokka and Toph ran over to see what had happened.

Sokka ran up to his sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "Katara, what happened?" he asked then he noticed Zuko gasping for air on the ground. "Were we attacked? What happened to him?" Sokka asked as Zuko tried to even out his breathing and stand.

"Nothing happened. I'm fine," Zuko stated then began to cough.

"The hell you are, sunshine!" Toph paused, as she felt the movements of Zuko's body, even with slightly burnt feet. "You're coughing up blood, aren't you?"

The others' eyes widened, and Katara backed away from Sokka as he and Aang pulled Zuko's hand from his mouth to see the blood. Aang quickly to Katara. "He's coughing up blood! You gotta help him Katara!" Aang exclaimed, panic evident in his voice.

"No!" Zuko called out before he had another coughing and Sokka steadied him, so Zuko would not fall from the pain.

Toph's face contorted as she felt Katara backing away more. She turned to Katara. "You did this...?" Toph asked, incredulously.

Sokka turned to Toph, still steadying Zuko. "Toph, that's ridiculous! How could Katara do this-"

"...unless she used her blood bending..." Toph stated quietly, cutting off Sokka's defense of his sister.

Aang's eyes widened as he walked over to Katara. "Did you use blood bending on Zuko...?" Aang asked as Katara avoided looking him in the eyes.

Katara backed away more, the severity of what she did sinking in. "I..." she stuttered before she took off into air temple.

* * *

_"You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your "destiny" anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends. Right then and there. Permanently."_  
He felt hands on his chest as the words ran through his head, chilling him to the bone. He wanted to shoot up, surround the person with their hands on him in flames, but he felt these hands healing him, he calmed down.

"I'm sorry..." a voice whispered. Zuko assumed it belonged to the healing hands, but his head felt foggy. "I overacted. You did nothing wrong, and I almost..."

Katara gulped, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes as she healed the damage she had caused. Zuko stayed silent. "I guess I have to earn your trust now, huh? I mean, the only reason I'm able to heal you is because you're unconscious..." she muttered as Zuko's pain subsided almost completely.

Zuko was tempted to speak up, tell her he was awake and allowing her to heal him, but part of him wanted to hear what else she would say to him when she thought him unconscious. There was silence for a while, and for a moment, he thought she left.

"...I promised I'd never blood bend again," she laughed, almost surprising Zuko into opening his eyes. "I guess all elements have something dark to them... Water heals, but if the water is used for healing is used in a different way, it can kill in secret and control people... Its not want I want..."

"Then learn how to control it and when to use it," Zuko spoke up, startling Katara to jump off the bed.

"H-how long were you awake!?" she stuttered.

"Long enough..." he said as he pulled himself into the sitting position. "I trust you, Katara. If I earn your trust, I know it won't happen again."

Katara bit the inside of her cheek as she looked him over sternly. "What if you can't earn my trust?"

Zuko paused for a moment. "Then, I'll just have to be more careful around you," he said finally, "It'll be practice to have my guard up at all times."

Katara had the urge to smile, almost. "Well, the keep your guard up!" she said as she turned to leave. She paused in the doorway and turned back for a moment. "If you do gain my trust, I'll want to spar."

Zuko blinked for a moment before a small smile made its way to his face. "Sure."

She left, and he fell back onto the bed, hoping she would trust him soon. He wanted to see what other tricks she had, other then the blood bending. He shuttered a bit at the thought of the control she had over him, but he was starting to think she might not need her blood bending to have some control over him. Why else would he have let her heal him after what she had done? He sighed and went back to sleep. His uncle plagued his sleep with whispers of _'You've grown attached to her'_ and _'Do I see grandchildren in the near future?'_

Zuko groaned in his sleep, hearing his uncle's cheerful, teasing voice in his dreams. The back of his subconscious was just glad to have cheerful, teasing uncle back, rather than the sad, disappointed uncle plaguing his dreams.

* * *

Note: I've been toying with this kind of idea since the blood bending episode, and Zuko joining the Gaang just pushed me to do it. (Katara's death threat too.) Tell me what you think. And sorry for any crappy grammar and the like. No beta can do that to you. 


End file.
